BSM Fuzz Bender

The BSM Fuzz Bender is a handmade germanium loaded fuzz unit from BSM, the German maker best known for its treble boosters. Its defining feature is a switch that lets a player move between two classic fuzz voicings in one box: the fat, fuzzy FuzzFace sound associated with Jimi Hendrix and also used by Ritchie Blackmore, and the tighter sounding V*X/Sola-Sound Tone Bender Mk1.5 style.¹

What it does

The Fuzz Bender sits in BSM's range of fuzz and booster units alongside models such as the BSM J-Fuzz and the BSM Spectrum. Where those pedals pursue a single voicing, the Fuzz Bender carries two. According to the maker, it "allows a switchover from Jimi Hendrix' fat, fuzzy sounding FuzzFace (also used by Blackmore) sound to the more tight sounding V*X/Sola-Sound Tone Bender Mk1.5 style."²

For a player, that means one pedal can cover the looser, saturated character of a FuzzFace style circuit and the more focused attack of the early Tone Bender design, without swapping pedals. Both of those circuits are germanium based designs, and the Fuzz Bender is described by the maker as "a fine handmade germanium loaded fuzz unit."¹ It belongs to the broader family of fuzz pedals, and BSM also builds related machines such as the BSM FuzzBender Fuzz Machine.

Background

The two voicings the Fuzz Bender draws on come from the late 1960s: the FuzzFace, played by Jimi Hendrix and, per the maker, also used by Ritchie Blackmore, and the V*X/Sola-Sound Tone Bender Mk1.5.¹ BSM presents the pedal as a way to switch between those two sounds rather than as a copy of either one alone.²

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